Blood Alcohol Content and Consumption

Take It Easy When You Are Socializing

  1. Include a designated driver in your plans
  2. Keep track of what you drink
  3. Count how many drinks you consume

DO NOT DRINK and DRIVE
if you’re only shopping for groceries

Reports of the World Health Organization (WHO) offer no encouragement about alcohol consumption. Words that stand out are harmful use of alcohol in a study conducted a few years ago and reported in 2018.

Ask the question months or years later. How many people have died from the harmful use of alcohol moving on from the past few years?

Always think about planning ahead when alcohol is involved.

Plan A: Imagine thinking only one more drink, having a few more drinks and driving home.

Plan B: Imagine knowing rain is coming, going out the door with rain gear and walking outside protected from the raindrops.

The two scenarios have one thing in common: thinking about an outcome. Unfortunately, the first scenario is common. Sometimes, it has a tragic outcome.

A Label Guards Your Drinking Choices

The advice to read the label has never been more important for a consumer. What's important about words and numbers on the label of any bottle of liquor you buy? As soon as you start sipping, the percentage affects your blood alcohol content (BAC). In other words, your BAC increases and you are fast approaching the legal limit.

Your BAC Tracks Your Every Sip

Your BAC is a personal number, like your blood pressure reading. What's a safe BAC level? The level that's the legal one where you live is perhaps safe, but drinking until you think you're under that limit is not a good idea.

Scene: You're socializing over a beer or two. Then, you've a glass of wine at the barbecue a while later. Be aware you’re mixing different beverages with different concentrations of alcohol. Your BAC simply increases.

Eating before you drink doesn't change the concentration of alcohol — only how your body absorbs it. And the absorption process depends on a myriad of individual characteristics, including gender.

Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Drinking

I've limited content about alcohol addiction because it’s a complex condition. This condition needs the attention of professionals and/or organizations trained to help addicts. Details about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and alcohol-related conditions are also excluded. FASD has a single cause — alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

Organizations for Alcohol Help

The addictions.com has this statement, "Nowadays, the word "addiction" has become a hot-button issue, around the world, as its effects touch the lives of more and more people". The website references addictive substances besides alcohol and has a search bar to help expand your search. Connect with Twitter and Facebook.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has resources. This site covers a broad range of health subjects. Connect with Twitter and Facebook.

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundaton is a nonprofit based in the United States. It offers help to anyone and everyone with alcohol consumption issues. Connect on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has a website of resources and an online bookstore for anyone looking for assistance. This website is trilingual with services in English, French and Spanish, as well as information about the world-wide organization.

Al-Anon provides support to families and to teens through Alateen. Connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) helps with the tragic outcome of impaired driving. The organization crusades against impaired driving and offers support to individuals. Connect on Twitter and Facebook.

Recovery Village has a website that can be a turning point for you. Reach here for help before alcohol use is at a place where you want your life to be different.

AlcoholChange is an organization located in the United Kingdom. It has a mandate to introduce changes that reduce the harm of alcohol consumption.
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